Values Based Management: Guided by the Bhagavad Gītā

Abstract

The teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā, has a special role to play today in helping to guide those engaged in business, especially, managers of businesses, small and large. The essence of the problem is that business is mired in a mistaken view that maximizing short-term financial results is the ultimate goal. When focused in that way decisions are made that often ignore important moral, environmental and personal issues. This work looks at the application of natural human values like honesty, patience, and courage that are offered in the Gītā, in the performance of nine core management functions. When these values are properly applied then important business values like credibility, productivity, and innovation arise naturally, resulting in a profitable, sustainable, and responsible business. The essential message is that business can be principled and profitable, ethical and effective, and conscious and commercial.